Événement

Ninah's Dowry

At 20, Ninah is a veteran wife of 7 years and a mother of 3. She is stuck in an abusive relationship with no hope of change. Her family lives off her meager earnings from farm work while her husband, Memfi, drinks away his equally meager earnings as a shepherd.When news of her gravely ill father reaches Ninah she decides to go speak her peace to her father even as her husband commands her to stay and get the farm ready before the rains come. Ninah disobeys Memfi by packing and attempting to leave. Memfi tells her he will not let her set a bad example for their children so he beats her up and ties her to a pole before he takes cattle out to graze for the day.Ninah"۪s younger brother, Robert, finds and frees her against her volition. They head back to see Ninah"۪s dad. She arrives to find her father comatose but she still asks him why it was she was sold to an abusive man. What had she done wrong? Her father knew Memfi was a violent person yet he accepted Memfi"۪s money.After her father dies, Ninah refuses to return home and stays instead to run a small restaurant.To her siblings"۪ horror, Ninah rekindles her relationship with a childhood boyfriend. When news reaches her husband that Ninah is pregnant, he comes with two of his friends and forces her to either reimburse the dowry he paid or return home with him. Unable to come up with the money, Ninah finds herself physically pulled and dragged and carried through the public squares as her husband and his posse take her home. No one comes to her assistance.Knowing that she faces a life of abuse, slave-caliber labour and possibly death, Ninah devices ways to escape. First, she gains her husband"۪s trust by cooperating with he and his posse by walking along unforced. Then, when the men relax on the trail, Ninah makes a break for it. They chase her but she manages to elude them and take refuge in a bush by a river. Knowing that she can"۪t swim, Memfi burns the bush, forcing Ninah to jump in the river where she almost drowns.One of Memfi"۪s posses, Mike, is so moved by her suffering that he disobeys Memfi"۪s orders and jumps in to rescue Ninah. The men then tie her up and march her homeward. Now, Ninah must either accept her fate or hope for a miracle.